I saw what looked like a rocket mounted underneath,so I had to ask.
I saw what looked like a rocket mounted underneath,so I had to ask.
The plane Yeager (correction) flew in an altitude record attempt and eventually had to bail out of (as shown in The Right Stuff Movie) was an NF-104. An F-104 with a rocket booster attached to the tail and a reaction control system (reaction jets to provide control when there is no atmosphere). The flight profile involved shutting down the engine at high altitude and an extremely high angle climb (using only the rocket) then restarting the engine by windmilling it as it descended (!)
An NF-104 set an altitude record of 120,000 feet in 1963.
The F-104 is a natural match with the B-58 though. Both are the most bitchen' examples of a fighter and bomber ever to exist!
Why the asymmetric thrust line? My guess it's a combination being able to tie into structure that can take the thrust better and providing a pitch up tendency in the atmosphere.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_NF-104A
In reply to MyMiatas :
That's the combined fuel tank/nuclear bomb. The design lacked an internal bomb bay, so it carried an underslung pod with a fuel tank and a nuclear warhead. You flew in on the fuel pod, dropped the nuclear warhead/fuel pod, and then blasted out of the area at Mach 2.
aircooled said:
Why the asymmetric thrust line? My guess it's a combination being able to tie into structure that can take the thrust better and providing a pitch up tendency in the atmosphere.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_NF-104A
Eyeball analysis says that it is angled like that so it is pushing through the center of mass, so there is no thrust induced pitch. Important when, as you point out, there is not enough air for the control surfaces to be useful.
If that pesky engine was not in the way, they could have mounted the rocket lower.
A couple pics I took a few years ago.
USAF TPS:
And the B-58 test bed named Snoopy with satellite calibration panels.
In reply to myf16n :
Yes, that is the First NF-104 (you can tell by the rocket on the tail) at Edwards AFB. It is missing the RCS system (which extended the wings) though since they where loaned to Darryl Greenamyer for the F-104 he built out of part for a civilian high altitude record attempt, which he had to eject out of, at Edwards, when the left main gear would not lock down. (I put that story up here somewhere recently, not sure if it was this thread). Here is the plane in question:
aircooled said:The plane Armstrong flew in an altitude record attempt and eventually had to bail out of (as shown in The Right Stuff Movie) was an NF-104.
Yeager, not Armstrong.
Sam Shepard, who played Yeager in the movie, at left.
Related pic:
I have been on Edwards many times since the early 80's and only recently discovered that this had been preserved. It was great to see.
In reply to Will :
Doh! yes, Yeager of course. Aviation hero's can sometimes be easy to mix up! 
How about a music transportation hero(!):
MyMiatas said:In reply to NickD :
Is that one of the planes that Neil Armstrong flew to high atmosphere to a high Mach speed?
Yeah, sorry, I got thrown by the B-58. The above post with the X15 is correct, he did fly those, but they still aren't as 'purty' as the F-104 (which Yeager, not Armstrong flew). X-15 for reference:
Armstrong made seven flights in the X-15 between November 30, 1960, and July 26, 1962.[57] He reached a top speed of Mach 5.74 (3,989 mph, 6,420 km/h) in the X-15-1
This was(is?) on static display out in front of ERAU when I was attending.
The X15 eventually flew with the first throttleable rocket engine. I took these in the Edwards AFB museum. 
Overlander level: OVER 9000
In reply to Duke :
Having driven many miles in this version, that thing would be a beast.
Scubanubis
Fallingwatermelon
In reply to myf16n :
Can't give more than one thumbs up!
Time for an air filter change?
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